Spindles

July 15, 2012

I finally finished plying he 3 ounces of Merino/bamboo singles. The spindle was pretty heavy by the time I was done:

Here it is skeined but not washed yet:

And I finished spinning the bat I bought at Maryland:

This morning I picked about 18 pounds of blueberries. I should have been freezing them today but instead I've been eating them by the handful. I'll get on the freezing tomorrow. Now, I'm putting the clothes in the dryer and going to bed.

July 10, 2012

This is about 1/2 to 2/3 of the two spindles from which I'm plying. I'm not sure you can tell but I'm plying with a bottom-whorl spindle. I'm almost done wheel-spinning what I'm pretty sure isn't just 4 ounces of roving. The bobbin is so full, I'm not sure I'll be able to fit that last of the spun roving on it. I may not be making huge progress on my spinning but I've spun every day (except the first day and I made it up by spinning on the rest day) and that was as much of a goal as I'd made anyway.

July 08, 2012

Pretty much all I did this weekend was spin. I finished up the Merino/bamboo roving I'm spindle spinning for a pair of socks. Three ounces are on three spindles:

I've already started plying together the two spindles on the right and left. Pictures later.

I also spun quite a bit of the Merino/silk/bamboo I've been working on since last Saturday. I've been spending most of my time spindle spinning so this has come along slowly:

Last week was a weird, excruciating week. I thought having a day off in the middle of the week would break things up but all it did was give me two Mondays. Half of my group at work, the really fun people, were out all week which made time move even slower. I hope next week's better.

Next Saturday is my guild meeting and Sunday I'm planning on my first outing to pick this year's blueberries. Most of them will be added to the freezer. I haven't decided on whether or not to make jam. I'm still eating the strawberry jam I made last year so I certainly have enough jam to last me until next year.

July 05, 2012

Spun on my new Bosworth .8 ounce spindle. This is the same Merino/bamboo I've been spinning for a pair of socks. I'm thinking once I get this spun and plied, I can make the socks my event for the Ravelympics. I have no idea if I can knit a pair of socks in two weeks but I guess I'll find out. I've also been wheel spinning but I've made better progress in my spindle. I've been taking it to work with me and spinning during breaks and lunch.

May 15, 2012

I am loving my new Bosworth spindle (the one on the left). It doesn't spin as long as the Spanish Peacock spindle on the right but it has a nice deep notch that makes a huge difference while you're spinning. The yarn doesn't slip out of the notch as easily as it can in other notched spindles. Love!

The Bosworth spindle I've been spinning on at home and the Peacock spindle is my travel spindle. It went with me to my spinning guild meeting Saturday. I'm making good headway on the yarn for the second spindle-spun sock I'll be knitting. You may spin faster on a wheel but you can get a lot of spinning done using a drop spindle. With my wheel, it's a procedure to pull the wheel out of the closet, take it out of the case, set it up and start spinning. Spinning with a spindle all you do is pick it up and give it spin. Spinning on a spindle you can pick it up 10 minutes here, 15 minutes there throughout the day. I've probably spun close to an ounce since Saturday. Not too shabby.

April 26, 2012

This is going faster than I thought it would. The two spindles I'm plying off of are pretty equally matched as far as the mileage of the singles. I'll probably finish them both close to the same time. I think. The bottom-whorl spindle I'm plying with is getting pretty heavy. I've got about 2 ounces on there so far and it's amazing just how heavy 2 ounces can be.

These are my favorite summer flowers. These are in the front yard and there a white Bleeding Heart growing outside my livingroom window. I like the pink ones the best.

Forget-Me-Nots are in my top 5 favorite flowers. They're just so darn cheerful!

April 24, 2012

I've been furiously spindle spinning, trying to get the yarn done in time for Maryland. The spindle on the far right is the one I'm working on at the moment. Happily, I'm almost done spinning the 3 ounces. Has anyone actually spun an entire 3 ounces onto one spindle? I HAD to break it up because the spindles were just too heavy. The Twisted Sister's Sock Workbook doesn't mention anything about the spinning part. I'm not too sure how I'm going to get three cops into a 2-ply yarn but I'm sure I'll figure it out. Well, I hope I'll figure it out. I've worked too hard on this to mess it up and I plan on finishing with an award-winning yarn.

I was introduced to a website called Emergency Essentials at BePrepared.com. It has everything you need to prepare for an emergency. You know how the government tells us that we should have enough food, water and supplies for 3 days? How many of us actually follow this advice? This is the website that helps you do that. I'm going to get yelled at for this but I bought a long-term, 5-gal. jug for storing water, 3 freeze-dried meals and a #10 can of 6-grain cereal. So that's breakfast and dinner for three days and I figure I can get at least 3 lunches from what's around the house. Between that and all my camping equipment, I should be set if something disastrous happens. It feels good to know I'm prepared, or I will be as soon as my stuff arrives. Have you made any plans in case of emergency? I would love to hear about them.

April 17, 2012

Galen keeps trying to steal my spindle. Maybe he just likes it. Last Friday, he found the pile of roving on my bed and I found him happily purring and kneading the fiber. He was a happy boy.

My task this week is to gather the yarn I plan on entering into the Maryland skein contest, wash it and reskein it to get it ready. Also, to fill out the contest entry form and the description that has to accompany each skein. I'm hoping the yarn above will be finished in time for Maryland. I still have some spinning left to do though so that's on the list, too. There's a category in the contest for 100% wool yarn, cleaned, prepared and spun by the spinner. I don't have any finished yarn yet for this category so I need to get working on that, too. I'd say it's going to be a busy week.

April 15, 2012

Remember this spindle, purchased last year at the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival? This is the reason you really shouldn't use your drop spindle on wood floors. I dropped it and it shattered:

I really liked that drop spindle. And I had built up quite a cop over the weekend:

I've since switched to my Spanish Peacock spindle. I'm trying really hard not to drop it. (I really need to get a rug for my livingroom.)

I've been spinning the fiber I dyed on Thursday and so far, I'm happy with how it turned out:

There's a little more pink than I wanted but I gave away the worst offenders to a friend. These are pretty representative of what I kept. The plan is to spin 3 ounces on the drop spindle in time for Maryland so I can enter it in the skein contest. The other 3 ounces I can drop spindle spin at a more leisurely pace. Eventually, the yarn will be a pair of socks. Imagine, 6 centuries ago, everything was spun on a drop spindle. The yarn for the clothes you wore, the socks you wore, the rope you used. The Viking's sails were all spun using drop spindles. The modern spinning wheel wasn't invented until the 15th century. Kind of puts into perspective the amount of time it'll take me to spin 6 ounces of fiber for a pair of socks.

This variety of narcissus is at least a hundred years old. It's not a particularly spectacular flower but it's kind of special to my family. When I was young, we had a place in the country and occasionally, we'd find the odd flower growing in the fields. My dad collected a few in the fall one year and replanted them near our house. Over the years, they grew and were divided by my dad until eventually, he had clumps of them growing all over the place. We now call them Frank's Narcissus since we have no idea of the name of the variety. It's so old, it may not even have one. My parents sold that house quite a few years ago but my sister took some of the bulbs to her place and when they got big enough, gave some to me. I suspect some member of my family will be growing and dividing and growing this variety for quite a while.